The Hatchie River is remarkable for a number of reasons. It is the longest free-flowing tributary of the lower Mississippi River, beginning in northern Mississippi and traveling northward more than 200 miles through western Tennessee. Because it has never been impounded or channelized, natural floods still sustain the river and wetland habitats along its course. The Hatchie is also unique in that its riparian bottomland hardwood forests are relatively undisturbed.
The rich ecological diversity supported by those habitats includes more than 100 species of fish, 35 species of mussels, 50 species of mammals and many reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Among these are a suite of rare species, such as the blue sucker, northern madtom, naked sand darter, alligator snapping turtle and the endemic Hatchie burrowing crayfish, that have declined elsewhere in their ranges. The Hatchie may contain more species of catfishes—eleven—than any other North American river. Annually, some 250 species of birds, including the rare cerulean and Swainson’s warblers, along with myriad waterfowl, use the Hatchie’s forests in varying seasons for migration, breeding and wintering.
The Nature Conservancy has designated approximately 1.5 million acres along the Hatchie’s length as a priority conservation site. Substantial lands currently under public ownership include the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge (11,556 acres located south of Brownsville, Tennessee), the Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge (9,451 acres conserving much of the remaining bottomland hardwood forests along the Hatchie’s last 17 miles), Fort Pillow State Park at the mouth of the Hatchie River and the John Tully Wildlife Management Area.